Birthday's Suck
by wolftracks17
Summary: Naruto's late? It's his birthday? And what's that on his stomach? Rated T for language
1. What's That?

At team 7's meeting place we find Sasuke and Sakura awaiting the arrival of Kakashi and Naruto. They were a little worried, Kakashi was late all the time so that wasn't a problem, but Naruto was NEVER late, he was normally the first one there. They continued sitting in an awkward silence. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 1 hour. Naruto still wasn't there, they were obviously worried now, even Sasuke, he would look up every few seconds, as if he was looking for Naruto. Over the last few days Naruto had been acting strange, more distant, they both had noticed. Sasuke had actually mentioned it once, but after seeing how uncomfortable Naruto was with the subjecyt, he let it drop.

A cry of pain jerked them out of their thoughts. They both jumped up into defensive positions as they heard footsteps coming there way. They were a little shocked to see Naruto limping towards them. There was a gash in his leg and two gashes in his left arm.

He was covered in other small injuries. He limped over to them.

"Sorry I'm… late guys…." He panted out

"Naruto what…"

"HEY THERE HE IS!!!" shouted a man

"Shit!!"

Naruto tried to run away but as soon as he put pressure on his leg he crashed to the ground. The men were closing in on him when Sasuke jumped in front of him.

"Get out of the way boy" growled the lead man

"No. What has he done?"

"We don't need a reason to attack that monster" growled out another man

Naruto whimpered softly when the man called him a monster.

"Sasuke, Naruto needs medical attention, we have to get him out of here." Sakura said as she helped Naruto up, she had left a note for Kakashi already

"Fine. Let's go."

They disappeared with Naruto. The group of men let out a string of curses before trying to follow them.

"Where are we going?" Saauke questioned as he took the now unconscious Naruto fron Sakura

"Lets take him to his house for now, the hospitals to far away."

When they got to his apartment they gasped. His door was kicked in, and on the walls there were messages spray-painted like" "GeT OuT Of OuR ToWn DeMoN!!!" "MUrderER!!!" NoBoDy CaReS AbOuT YoU!!!" "NOBODY LOVES YOU!!!". Inside was worse, there had obviously been a struggle. There was blood on the ground and kunai, shuriken and knives sticking out of some of the walls. They cleared a spot on the ground because his bed was torn in half. Sakura quickly took off his jacket to heal the wounds on his arm. Sasuke was keeping pressure on his leg to stop the bleeding. He noticed a scar on Naruto's arm that ran up under his shirt, he didn't remember that scar being there before.

Sakura finished with his arm and moved down to his leg, Sasuke moved up to Naruto's chest. He took off Naruto's shirt so he could bandage the smaller wounds and then dropped it in disbelief. Sakura looked up when he dropped the shirt and stared in horror. Naruto was covered in scars. They went up his arms and then curled down to his chest. Over his heart there was an X shaped scar, like someone tried to dig his heart out. Sakura gagged, she was a medic-nin, but she hadn't seen anything like this before.

**POOF**

Kakashi was here.

"What happened to Naru…to" his sentence died out. He was staring at Nartuo in utter disbelief. Sakura noticed that some of the scars were cut off by his pants, she gulped. She slowly took them off to(He's still in his boxers). His legs were no better than the rest of him. There were scars that went under his boxers but they left those on.

"I thought you said he was hurt?!? This isn't hurt!! This is torture!!" Kakashi yelled

"We didn't know about this" Sakura said in a small voice, she felt terrible. She was always picking on Naruto for not being strong, he was obviously stronger than she thought.

"That's not possible" Kakashi and Sakura looked at Sasuke

"What's not possible?" Sakura questioned

"Some of these scars are years old, but during training and missions I've seen him without his shit. They weren't there before" he stated

"That's right!! He didn't have them then" Sakura exclaim

At her yell Naruto groaned, they looked at him quickly. His eyes fluttered open, all he could see was 3 fuzzy blobs hovering over him.

"NOOOOOO!!!" he screamed

He jumped up and ran into a corner

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! DON'T HURT ME ANYMORE, PLEASE!!!"

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke(though he didn't show it) were shocked, they had never seen Naruto this scared before.

"Naruto" Sakura said softly

He flinched and pushed himself further into the corner

"Naruto it's us" Kakaashi added in a soothing voice

Naruto still didn't respond

"Dobe! Snap out of it!" Sasuke said as he walked toward him

Dobe. Only Sasuke called him that. He looked up slowly, Sasuke was standing in front of him and Kakashi and Sakura were a little farther back. He launched himself toward Sasuke, and gave him a bone-crunching hug.

"You saved me! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!!!!"

Sasuke shoved him off, Nartuo backed off quickly and wiped his eyes. Another shock, Naruto never cried. When Naruto saw his clothes in front of him, he looked down.

"DAMN-IT!!!"

He quickly formed a hand sign and the scars faded away. This turned out to be a bad thing, because when he formed the hand sign his seal appeared on his stomach. He didn't notice though.

"Just forget you saw those scars guys. It has nothing to do with you."

"Naruto"

Naruto turned to Sasuke, and jumped back when he saw Sasuke's sharingan activated.

"W-what?"

"What is that?" he pointed to Naruto's stomach

Naruto looked down and his eyes widened

"SHIT!!!"


	2. You have right?

"SHIT!!!"

Naruto dove for his shirt, which again was bad because Sakura had not finished healing his leg. As soon as he put weight on it he cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Sakura rushed forward to help him but Kakashi held her back.

"Wha…"

"Look"

She looked back at Naruto; the wounds on his body were healing themselves. Soon there was no trace that he had even been hurt. He stood up shakily, the seal still showed on his stomach. Only Sasuke seemed to notice that the seal glowed red when he was healing himself.

"What does that seal mean Naruto" his voice was low and dangerous

Naruto was shaking a little but he ignored Sasuke. He grabbed his shirt and put it on, he was about to grab his pants when Sasuke stepped in front of him.

"What Does It Mean Naruto" his voice was a little louder and he emphasized every word

Naruto's shaking was more pronounced now. But he still ignored Sasuke. He put his pants on. He looked around for the first time and gasped at the state of his apartment. He didn't have time to look closer because Sasuke slammed him into the wall.

"NARUTO! What. Does. It. Mean.!?" He growled out, his sharingan activated

If anyone had doubted it before they obviously didn't now. Naruto was shaking with fear. He looked at Kakashi, his eyes pleading for help. Kakashi stepped forward and pulled Sasuke off him. Naruto fell to the floor still shaking.

"You're scaring him Sasuke"

"Feh" Sasuke dis-activated his sharingan and sat down next to Naruto

"Spill Naruto, why were those guys chasing you" Naruto looked at Kakashi for help, but he just shook his head.

"Sorry Naruto, but I think it's time you told them"

Naruto looked down, his shaking had returned slightly

"But first…"

Naruto looked up hopefully

"Don't misunderstand, you still have to tell them. But first I have something for you"

Naruto looked confused, so did Sasuke and Sakura. Kakashi looked at them

"Don't tell me you guys don't know" they shook their heads "Some friends you are" he cleared his throat and reached behind his back

"Happy Birthday Naruto" he said as he pulled a brightly wrapped gift out from behind his back. Sakura and Sasuke's faces now showed understanding and a little guilt, but Naruto's was still confused.

"Why are you giving me something?"

Kakashi looked at him like he was crazy

"Because it's your birthday"

"So?"

"Come on dobe, haven't you ever gotten a birthday present before?" it was meant as a joke

Naruto's face showed many emotions, first understanding, then joy, then sadness. He

looked down, Sasuke's smirk disappeared

"You have gotten a birthday present before right?"

Naruto's head sunk lower, Sakura burst into tears, this was just too sad. Kakashi was

shocked too, he hadn't known about this.

"Well I feel honored to b able to give you your first present" Kakashi stated as he handed the present to Naruto.

Sasuke and Sakura felt horrible. On their birthdays Naruto had given each of them a present, and they hadn't even know today was his birthday. A happy yell startled them out of their thoughts; they looked over to see Naruto holding a little kitsune. He had tears in his eyes as he set the fox down and tackled Kakashi to the ground yelling thank-you at the to of his lungs. When he finally let go he picked up the fox and buried his head in it's fur, his shoulders were shaking. It took awhile for them to realize he was crying. Sakura walked over to him and sat down. He stiffened when she sat down. She hugged him

"Happy birthday Naruto"

Naruto nodded, not trusting himself to speak without crying. He looked up when a key fell in his lap. Sasuke was standing next to him.

"It's a spare key to my house, you can stay there while your apartments being repaired"

Naurto looked down at the key and then back up at Sasuke

"Thnaks" was all he could manage to say

"Feh... happy birthday"

He couldn't help it; he started crying again. This was the first time anyone had shown him any amount of kindness on his birthday. Sakura rubbed his back comfortingly. The little fox nuzzled his cheek and whined. Naruto's head jerked toward the fox, he looked confused. The fox whined again, now he was shocked.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Kakashi questioned

"I, I know what she's saying. I can understand it"

"Well you shouldn't be surprised, it's in you nature"

"What's that mean?" Sakura asked

Kakashi stopped, Naruto looked down. He took a deep breath

"You really want to know?" he asked in a small voice

"Yes"

Naruto took another deep breath and stood up. He took his shirt off and the seal reappeared.

"You have to touch it," he pointed to the mark on his stomach. Sasuke and Sakura stepped forward and each put a finger on his stomach. Naruto closed his eyes, but before he started he said softly

"Just don't hate me"

Before they could respond he opened his eyes, they were glowing bright blue. Sasuke and Sakura fell into a trance as soon as they saw them.

Kakashi sighed sadly

'I hope they accept you Naruto'


	3. Are you sure?

Sasuke and Sakura found themselves in a dark hallway. Water dripped from the ceiling and formed puddles on the floor. Sakura gripped Sasuke's arm

"Where are we?" her voice was small

"Your in my mind"

They whirled around; standing behind them was Naruto.

"Your mind?" Sasuke asked

"Follow me" he turned and started walking

They followed him quickly; left, right, straight, they followed him in silence. Naruto stopped outside another hallway; they could hear something inside, something big.

"Before you see I have to tell you, I didn't chose this, it was forced on me when I was a baby"

"What did you mean when you said don't hate you" Sakura's voice was shaking now

"Are you sure you want to see" Naruto ignored he question

Sasuke nodded, Sakura clung tighter to him.

"Come on" Naruto walked into the hallway, they followed.

**I know short chapter right? What do you think? Good? Bad? Please Review**


	4. That's you right?

They followed; at the end of the hallway they could see a dark room. Naruto stopped and turned and put a finger to his lips.

"Shhhhh… don't draw attention to yourselves"

Sakura gulped, Sasuke nodded. Naruto whispered, "Come on" and they continued into the room. When they got past the door both of them gasped. They could see a huge door; there was a piece of paper that said "seal" that was holding it closed. They could hear something behind it even if they couldn't see it yet. Naruto motioned for them to stand behind him. Sakura rushed forward and clung to the back of his shirt, Sasuke just stood behind him, though he obviously looked a little scared now. Naruto's voice startled both of them.

"Kyuubi" he was calling someone

They looked at Naruto but he was looking up at the door. They slowly turned to look with him, suddenly a row of sharp teeth and 2 glowing red eyes appeared. A deep growling voice echoed around the room

"**Why did you call me brat?"**

Sakura opened her mouth to scream but Sasuke slapped his hand over her mouth. Unfortunately the small sound and the movement caught the fox's attention.

"**Well look at this… the brat brought his friends for a visit"**

"No, they want answers"

"**Oh really… and what makes them think that they are entitled to answers"**

"They're my friends" he turned to face them "right...?" there was desperation in his voice

Sasuke released Sakura and tried to find the voice to answer him.

"**Doesn't seem like it"**

Naruto hung his head, Sasuke finally found his voice and opened his mouth to speak, but…

"N-naruto, m-maybe you s-should tell us w-why y-you…" Sakura was shaking with fear but she was still attached to Naruto's back.

"Have this 'thing' inside you" Sasuke finished for her

Naruto lifted his head up. He let out a shaky breath.

"Today, my birthday is the anniversary of the defeat of the 9-tailed fox. The forth Hokage didn't kill the fox, he sealed it… he used… no he sacrificed a newborn baby to seal the fox. That baby and all the younger generation of Konoha grew up not knowing what happened. The third Hokage passed a degree, nobody was allowed to speak of the event either, but that didn't stop people from tormenting the child."

"And that child, would be you"

Naruto looked up at Sasuke

"Yeah"

Sakura whimpered slightly but kept stayed attached to Naruto's back

"**I hate to interrupt this touching moment"**

They spun around to face the fox

"**But if you think you can come in here and leave unscratched, you must be stupider than the brat here"**

Chakra started leaking through the bottom of the gate. It moved rapidly toward the trio. Naruto quickly released the trance that he had on Sakura and Sasuke, or at least he tired to.

"**Don't look so surprised brat. Your in my domain now"**

Naruto turned toward them

"RUN!!!"

Together the three of them ran through the hallways of Naruto's mind. The further away from the fox they got the nicer the surroundings got. There was no water on the floor and there was just on hallway now. They came to a door at the end. Naruto hesitated; he didn't want to let them to far into his mind. But when he looked behind him he could see the red chakra coming toward them. He yanked the door open, shoved Sasuke and Sakura in and then slammed it shut.


	5. Accepted?

FLASHBACK

_Together the three of them ran through the hallways of Naruto's mind. The further away from the fox they got the nicer the surroundings got. There was no water on the floor and there was just on hallway now. They came to a door at the end. Naruto hesitated; he didn't want to let them to far into his mind. But when he looked behind him he could see the red chakra coming toward them. He yanked the door open, shoved Sasuke and Sakura in and then slammed it shut._

They found themselves in a brightly lit room. Pictures of Naruto's friends were hung all over the walls. They room was brightly colored and definiatly seemed to fit Naruto's personality. As if to prove that point there was A LOT of Raman scattered everywhere around the room. The room itself seemed normal enough and it would have seemed like a normal room, but…

Floating all around the room, were different colored bubbles. Gold, blue, red and black

"Kyuubi can't come in here, this is my room"

They jumped at the sound of his voice, they had been distracted by the room

"What are these?" Sakura reached her hand out to touch a black bubble

Naruto grabbed her hand "They're my memories, don't touch the black or red ones"

"What's the difference in them?" Sasuke ased

"Gold are good memories, blue are sad memories, black are bad memories and the red ones…"

"The red ones what?"

"Memories of using Kyuubi's chakra" he mumbled

Sasuke seemed interested at that, he looked for a red bubble, it was hard to find because they're weren't that many there. When he found one he reached out to touch it but Naruto stopped him

"What makes you think your entitled to my memories?" his voice was low

Sasuke put his arm down. Once the fasination of the bubbles wore off Sakura remembered why they were in there.

"Uh… Naruto?"

He looked up at her

"Why is it so… different in here?"

He looked confused

"What do you mean?"

"Well all the other… places… we've been there were holes in the ceiling and water on the ground. But here…"

Naruto looked a little sad for a moment but it vanished quickly. On his shoulder the fox yipped, he smiled at it.

"Well actually I have you guys to thank for this room"

"Us?" Sasuke looked skeptical

"Yeah. Look around, this room pulled me out of the darkness I was in before. It helped me seal the pain, and then let it out slowly, a little at a time. I was able to create it because of my friends" he gestured to the pictures on the walls "and my team" he looked at them sadly "but if you don't want to associate with me anymore I'll understand"

Before they could answer him he formed a seal

"KAI!!!" he released the trance

Back in his apartment

Kakshi looked up as Sakura and Sasuke stirred, he quickly placed himself between them and Naruto. Naruto's eyes stopped glowing and he looked up at Kakashi

"How did it go" he asked anxiously

Naruto looked over at the two as they woke up

"I'm not sure"

"How can you not be sure?" Kakshi was a little panicked, he didn't want his students attacking each other

"They never got to answer me, the kyuubi attacked before they could" his voice seemed a little dead, a very un-Naruto trait, it made Kakashi fear the worst. A few feet away Sasuke helped Sakura up, the both had heard the conversation but they hadn't said anything. They just stood there staring at Naruto, who didn't even look up.

"We need to think" were they're only words and with that they left

Kakashi looked over at Naruto

"It could have been worse" he was trying to make him feel better

"…yeah…" it didn't work

After about 30 minutes of awkward silence between the two Kakahsi said he was going to go try to find them, Naruto nodded, he still hadn't moved

Kakashi left the apartment and didn't even walk 5 feet when he heard voices, he turned around and looked up on the roof. Up on the roof , talking in hushed voices were Sasuke and Sakura. Kakashi jumped up next to them

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well do I have to separate the team to protect Naruto or are you going to see that he's no different you and me?"

Sakura sighed "It's a hard thing to grasp this quickly"

"He needs to know NOW, before he does something reckless"

Kakashi sighed

"And besides, it's not like he's any different now that you know. He's still the same Naruto that you have always known"

They considered his words, he was right. The fox had been sealed in Naruto since he was a baby, just because they knew about it now wouldn't change who he was. Sasuke stood up, Sakura following him. Kakashi sighed in relief and led the way back down to Naruto.

When they got back to the room they found Naruto exactly where they had left him. The fox jumped in front of him and faced the three, snarling savagely for something it's size

"Relax" Kakashi told it

It did, but only a little. When Sasuke and Sakura approached it growled lowly, backing up so it was directly in front of Naruto

"Naruto" Sakura said as gently as she could

He flinched but didn't respond

"Oi dobe, stand up"

Again he flinched, but this time he looked up. What he saw surprised him, he had expected frowns or looks of disgust but instead he got a warm smile from Sakura and a not-so-cold smirk from Sasuke. Sakura offered him a hand up, he warily took it

"Dobe get you stuff"

Naruto gave him a confused look

"I already told you, you can stay at my place while the repairs are being done to yours"

Naruto looked shocked

"B-but w-what about Kyu—"

"Your still you Naruto. Not anybody else" Sakura interrupted

Naruto stared at them. When it finally clicked that they had just accepted him tears of joy flooded down his cheeks. He quickly turned away and went to find his things

'I guess birthdays aren't so bad after all' he thought as he left with his team

**THE END**

**So… what do you think? Good ending? Please review**


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